MAKER OF ARTIFICIAL KNEES AND HIPS BIOMET PAYS $23 MILLION FOR BRIBING DOCS IN BRAZIL, CHINA AND ARGENTINA

An American maker of medical devices, Biomet, will pay over $23 million for bribing doctors in China, Brazil and Argentina to use its products, including hip and knee replacements. The Securities and Exchange Commission said the company provided doctors with money and travel for implanting the articifial joints. “I’ve got to send him to Switzerland to visit his daughter,” a Biomet distributor wrote in a 2001 email to the company describing a trip given as a reward to a Chinese doctor who implanted 10 Biomet hips and knees a month in patients. Foreign bribes is a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Whistleblowers who reveal such bribes are entitled to up to 30% of what the government recovers. Foreign bribes to obtain business in nations such as China, Mexico, Brazil and in African nations is a common practice. The SEC has jurisdiction over all companies which trade on American exchanges.